At least 23 African Union peacekeeping troops and a Somali soldier have been killed in an ambush carried out by armed group al-Shabab in the country's south, according to a senior regional official.

The fighting broke out when the al-Shabaab fighters attacked the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops early on Sunday in the Bulamareer district of the Lower Shabelle region, about 140km southwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

We have carried 23 dead AMISOM soldiers and a dead Somali soldier from the scene where al Shabaab ambushed AMISOM today